I updated my treatment summary (here)
http://poiscenter.com/forums/index.php?topic=81.msg3513#msg3513 to include home-remedy type methods I've found helpful to lessen fatigue, induce sleep at night, relieve other POIS symptoms, and solve another problem I had with pulling my hair out of my head (side effect from prozac). I'll paste the updated section here as well:
Carrots: Eating one carrot a day improves my cognitive function & eye burning a barely noticeable amount. Doesn't work as well as the other supplements.
Salt Water: Relieves a tiny bit of my eye pain and may improve cognitive function. A teaspoon of iodized salt mixed into a glass of water.
Vaseline, tiger balm, pain relieving creams, olive oil- Helps joint pain and eye burning (via moisturization)
Leave-in-Conditioner- Helps scalp irritation and hair pulling.
Mid-day Nap/ Meditation- Helps fatigue later in day.
Avoiding electronic entertainment or any activities that cause high pleasure spikes: Helps balance my emotions. For example if I watch a movie early in the day I will be less motivated to perform chores or less pleasurable productive activities because those activities will seem much less enjoyable compared to the movie.
Avoiding computer screen 2 hrs before bed: Helps induce sleep. Reading over boring material during these 2 hrs also helps induce sleep.
Bread & butter: Right before bed, helps induce sleep.
Milk: Right before bed, helps induce sleep.
Walking/Light exercise: If done early or mid-day helps induce sleep later that night.
Brief Cold exposure: Walking outside in winter in a t-shirt for 10-15min or taking a cold shower can induce alertness and reduce libido. It might also reduce inflammation cuz alternating hot/cold is known to have that effect.
Method used to stop pulling hair out of head: Stretching my toes apart & massaging my feet is equally pleasurable to pulling hair out of my head and keeps my hands busy.
I realize several of these are common sense and others are personal problems of mine, but the silent readers might also have those problems. Also I think we tend to get so focused on magic cure-all type things that we sometimes forget the smaller healthy natural steps we can take to relieve our symptoms. Hang in there guys.
Also I updated some of the treatments that weren't helpful for me:
Unhelpful Treatments:
Fluoxetine(Prozac): Just made me tired and lose hair. Increased all POIS symptoms slightly.
Venlafaxine(Effexor): Caused fatigue, bone pain, heart pain, and knee pain. The other side effects resolved, but my knees still hurt months later. Residual slight knee pain continues to this day (almost a year later) and is likely permanent.
Neem: Took one capsule for almost 2 months with no effect.
SLIT: Lazy version in which I just held pure semen under tongue for 5 min and swallowed. About 3 months almost every night. No effect.
NSAIDS/Tylenol: Zero effect.
Valerian: Didn't decrease my anxiety or help me sleep. No effect.
Kava: No effect
L-theanine: No effect.
Gaba: No effect, but only tried a few pills.
Zinc: Cheap store version. No effect.
